Microsoft? Meta? No, it’s data center giant Vantage

Vantage Data Centers, a rapidly growing global developer of hyperscale data center campuses, is the company that plans to build a data center complex in Port Washington on as many as 1,900 acres — one that could be among the largest in the world — a spokesman for the Denver-based company confirmed Tuesday.

Vantage “is in the early stages of planning a data center campus in Port Washington,” Mark Freeman, vice president of global marketing for the company, said. “Given the early stages of planning, we do not have any additional details to provide at this time.”

Aaron Bilyeu, chief development officer for Cloverleaf Infrastructure, the company that secured land and power contracts as well as so-called entitlements — city zoning and land annexation — for the Port complex declined to comment when asked Tuesday if Cloverleaf had completed the sale of the project to Vantage, referring the question to Freeman.

Bilyeu did say the project was “in the hands” of Vantage, which will be the company that purchases land under contract for the data center complex, some of which has already been annexed from the Town of Port Washington and now constitutes the city’s new north side.

“They have taken over all the (land) contracts,” he said.

When asked if Vantage will be the sole end-user of the Port data center complex, he said, “That will be up to Vantage to determine.”

Vantage has 35 data center campuses, either in operation or under development, in 14 countries on five continents.

It has been focused on expanding throughout the world to capitalize on the increasing demand for cloud computing and artificial intelligence capacity and is currently constructing its first data center campus in the Midwest in New Albany, Ohio.

That campus, reported to cost $2.25 billion, will consist of three, two-story buildings on 70 acres and use 192 megawatts of electricity. The first of the campus’ data centers is expected to be online by December.

By those measures, Vantage’s Ohio campus could pale in comparison to the Port Washington complex in terms of both size and capacity.

Although Vantage has not disclosed its plans for Port Washington, Cloverleaf and city officials have talked about a campus that could cover 1,900 acres and use 3.5 gigawatts of electricity.

A city concept plan, which is intended to provide a general idea of what the campus could look like rather than a specific design, shows 11 data center buildings, five substations and three office buildings on the site, which extends roughly from Highway H north to Dixie Road and is west of I-43.

Port Washington Mayor Ted Neitzke said during an online meeting with a group of downtown businesspeople last week that Vantage, which he did not mention by name, plans to develop a complex that consists of multiple data centers, although the city does not know how many. The project, he said, will be built in two or three stages and could take six to 10 years to fully finish.

“It appears they’re going to start moving dirt this fall, Neitzke said.

The city recently annexed 490 acres of the 1,900 under contract for the first phase of the project and approved zoning and comprehensive plan changes to pave the way for a data center campus.

On Monday, the Common Council received an informational presentation on tax incremental financing districts. It is not known if Vantage will ask the city to create a TIF district to finance the extension of water and sewer services to the data center complex land.

The data center project, Neitzke said, is expected to add between $2.5 billion and $5 billion to the city’s current $1.4 billion valuation.

And that, he said, “should immediately have an impact on taxes.”

Construction of the campus is expected to bring thousands of workers to Port Washington, although it is not known how many will be employed permanently to operate the facilities.

“There has to be a place for our businesses in this process,” Neitzke told business owners.

He said the city has made it clear that it wants local companies to be part of the construction process.

“There’s an expectation they will support our local economy,” Neitzke said. “As the project moves forward, there will be secondary and tertiary needs.”

The opportunities are myriad, he said, from short-term and long-term housing to restaurants to work for tradespeople.

The city will host a meeting in mid-summer to connect local businesses to the end user, he added.

Noting the number of people who will be coming to the north side of Port as the campus is constructed, Neitzke said he plans to challenge city staff to come up with ways to draw people to the downtown.

Right now, he said, there is nothing at the north entrance that would compel people to come to the heart of the city.

“There’s really no reason to go into Port Washington. We have to create that reason,” he said.

Neitzke noted that the data centers offer the city a level of visibility that it doesn’t have now.

“There will be men and women coming in and out every day,” he said.

Not only will they talk about Port, exposing others to the city, he said, the data centers will also draw tertiary businesses that are linked through the supply chain to the area.

Robert Fechner, president of Kuttner North America in downtown Port, asked about the potential environmental impact of the campus, particularly with the cooling processes required.

Much of that will be regulated by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Neitzke said, adding that one reason companies are looking to northern states for data centers is the fact it’s cooler here.

“I think the State of Wisconsin is going to look at some pretty aggressive and progressive ways (to regulate that),” he said.

“My understanding is there’s not going to be a significant amount of water out of the lake,” Neitzke added. “Those are the details that have to be worked out.”

Neitzke said he has talked to officials from Mount Pleasant and Kenosha about their experiences with data centers to help inform the city moving forward, and he was headed to Virginia to tour Vantage data centers to “see exactly what they look like” and the impact on the surrounding area so Port can work to mitigate any negative impact.

Neitzke said the data center campus is a potential “legacy opportunity” for Port.

“Hopefully this will super-charge us,” he said. “This is a sustainable opportunity for us for 100 years.”

It’s industrial development, he said, and while it won’t be making such tangible things as lawn and garden tractors like Simplicity and Bolens once made, “they’re going to be producing internet for the world. The internet is not going away for 100 years.”